Cellular or mobile telephones (“cell phones”) and other, similarly capable mobile or portable devices such as the personal digital assistant (PDA) and a host of related or similar consumer electronic, networking, communicating and/or computing devices (“cell phones and related devices”), have become commonplace. Cell phones and related devices allow users to communicate telephonically at will from virtually any location (e.g., within the range or expanse of a cell phone network). Cell phones are said to have effectively “tied the phone to the user, instead of to a particular location,” as with conventional “land-line” telephones. So popular & widely used as they are, cell phones find application in a virtually limitless settings, situations and circumstances. For instance, cell phone users may hold telephonic conversations “in public,” a feature rather uncommon with typical landline phones, except “pay phones” and other publicly situated telephones, such as those in prisons, mental health facilities, charity hospitals, military barracks, hotel lobbies, and similar institutional settings.
Cell phones are often used on commuter trains, busses and the like, or while attending private or public gatherings such as parties, dances, conventions and the like. These use milieus typically share at least one significant trait: rather loud levels of ambient noise. When users converse over their phones in high noise environments, they may experience difficulty hearing the party with whom they are conversing over the phone. Sometimes, noise or the resulting difficulty in hearing a party on the phone may compromise users' ability to effectively modulate or moderate the volume of their own telephone speaking voice. Unable to modulate their own volume, users often, consciously or unconsciously, raise their own speaking volume. While this tendency to raise their volume is not effective in improving their hearing, it does seem to be a sort of a natural reaction, perhaps somewhat reflexive, among many telephone users in high noise areas. Users of fixed location (e.g., wire line, landline connected) telephones may be affected as well as users of cell phones and related devices.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, issues identified with respect to one or more approaches should not assume to have been recognized in any prior art on the basis of this section, unless otherwise indicated.